The present invention relates generally to cotton harvesting machines. More particularly this invention relates to the air system for conveying the harvested cotton from the harvesting means to the point of entry of the conveyor tubes, which connects the harvesting means with the receptacle carried by the cotton harvesting machine.
Cotton harvesting machines typically comprise a wheeled vehicle with harvesting means mounted in front adjacent to the ground, and a receptacle commonly referred to as a basket mounted on top towards the vehicle midpoint and rear. The harvesting means is often a picker spindle and doffer type which harvests the lint cotton from the plant itself without picking off the total boll. The cotton lint is pneumatically induced from the doffers into an adjacent duct. An inclined pneumatic conveyor tube connects the duct with inlets in the cotton basket for transporting the cotton lint from the duct to the cotton basket. The present invention provides an improved apparatus for transporting the cotton from the point of receipt of harvested cotton off of the harvesting means doffers to the point wherein the cotton first enters the conveyor tubes which connect the duct with the basket inlets.